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We're talking about 0-60 not HP.
We have a lot of small commuter/city cars such as Golf, Polo, Matiz, Twingo, C3... which you don't so if you add all those 0.8l - 1.4l engine cars together then yes, average American car is faster than average European car because no 1.0l car can get from 0-60 as a 5.7 Hemi and most of our city cars are in that range and most of your city cars are in V6 - V8 range. No doubt about that, but oh man the statistics. Try comparing cars with similar specifications.
I never said average European car is faster than average American car. I was just saying that average European cars are not that slow as you think they are and I made my point with VW Golf 6 1.4TSI that can get 0-60 in 7.7s while 2010 Lincoln Town Car 4.6 V8 with 239HP gets there in mid 8s range. This little "bee's nest" proves that it can compete with American cars, acceleration-wise, which are mostly about raw power and not efficiency. That's my point and you're making a mistake by thinking if the engine is big the car must be really fast. That's not true.
Nobody drives Town Cars any more. (Waiting for Fleet to contradict me in 5... 4... 3...) If it weren't for limo fleets demanding them, Ford probably would have stopped making them years ago. Trying to use a niche fleet car as your example of the "average" American car doesn't really make your point for you.
So a higher-end Golf sprints to 60 in 7.7 seconds... yip-dee. A U.S. model base Golf can match that and costs about 2/3rds as much.
Oh forget Honda Accord and Lincoln Town Car. You made an assumption that European cars are slower because they have smaller engines and I pointed out, by using VW Golf and Lincoln Town Car as an example, that bigger engine doesn't necessarily means better acceleration. That's all. I don't have statistics data in my hands so I can't tell if in general American average cars are faster or slower than European cars and frankly I don't care, but what bothered me was when you said that average European car is "frustratingly slow". Not because I'm European, I don't care about that local-patriotic c*ap, it bothered me because not everyone here drives Daewoo Matiz with a 0.8l engine (lol), we also drive 2.0l - 3.0l cars that are quite fast.
Nobody drives Town Cars any more. (Waiting for Fleet to contradict me in 5... 4... 3...) If it weren't for limo fleets demanding them, Ford probably would have stopped making them years ago. Trying to use a niche fleet car as your example of the "average" American car doesn't really make your point for you.
I was at a parking lot a few days ago. Made a 5-minute walk to the bank. Within 3 minutes, I actually saw 3 "nobodys" driving by in late-model Lincoln Town Cars! They are quite common here. (Also in Florida.)
Oh forget Honda Accord and Lincoln Town Car. You made an assumption that European cars are slower because they have smaller engines and I pointed out, [b][by using VW Golf and Lincoln Town Car as an example, that bigger engine doesn't necessarily means better acceleration./B] That's all. I don't have statistics data in my hands so I can't tell if in general American average cars are faster or slower than European cars and frankly I don't care, but what bothered me was when you said that average European car is "frustratingly slow". Not because I'm European, I don't care about that local-patriotic c*ap, it bothered me because not everyone here drives Daewoo Matiz with a 0.8l engine (lol), we also drive 2.0l - 3.0l cars that are quite fast.
You have to factor in gearing (The VW has a lower first gear and axle ratio than a Town Car) and vehicle weight.
I know that but that's not the point. We were talking about average cars and I mentioned Town Car because when I was in NYC I had a feeling that every other car is Lincoln Town Car. That was few years back so things might have changed since then.
Oh forget Honda Accord and Lincoln Town Car. You made an assumption that European cars are slower because they have smaller engines and I pointed out, by using VW Golf and Lincoln Town Car as an example, that bigger engine doesn't necessarily means better acceleration. That's all. I don't have statistics data in my hands so I can't tell if in general American average cars are faster or slower than European cars and frankly I don't care, but what bothered me was when you said that average European car is "frustratingly slow". Not because I'm European, I don't care about that local-patriotic c*ap, it bothered me because not everyone here drives Daewoo Matiz with a 0.8l engine (lol), we also drive 2.0l - 3.0l cars that are quite fast.
I made no such assumption. Of course you can find examples on the two extremes (a very small engine that makes a lot of power, a relatively large, antiquated outgoing engine that makes relatively little power and is only used in soon-to-be-discontinued fleet cars) and compare the two. But using extremes isn't very useful when trying to describe the middle. All I said is what the average European driver drives is slower and less powerful than what the average American driver drives. I didn't realize that would be so controversial, or such a hard concept for some to wrap their minds around. Europeans are far more willing to drive slower, lower-powered cars than we are, because the economics of fuel costs makes it worth their while.
We're talking about 0-60 not HP.
We have a lot of small commuter/city cars such as Golf, Polo, Matiz, Twingo, C3... which you don't so if you add all those 0.8l - 1.4l engine cars together then yes, average American car is faster than average European car because no 1.0l car can get from 0-60 as a 5.7 Hemi and most of our city cars are in that range and most of your city cars are in V6 - V8 range. No doubt about that, but oh man the statistics. Try comparing cars with similar specifications.
I never said average European car is faster than average American car. I was just saying that average European cars are not that slow as you think they are and I made my point with VW Golf 6 1.4TSI that can get 0-60 in 7.7s while 2010 Lincoln Town Car 4.6 V8 with 239HP gets there in mid 8s range. This little "bee's nest" proves that it can compete with American cars, acceleration-wise, which are mostly about raw power and not efficiency. That's my point and you're making a mistake by thinking if the engine is big the car must be really fast. That's not true.
Gee, my american car can do 0-60 in 3.4 seconds and gets 25 mpg highway. Granted, I've only had it up to around 300kph so what the heck.
You seem to forget the first rule of European cars, the dashboard is worth at least 20,000 US dollars which is something like 5,000 European Kilograms.
Performance, external styling, pretty much nothing matters other than having a nice interior (preferably dashboard) that you can stare at while being towed.
Then again, the European cars all corner better as long as you only consider US cars from 10+ years ago....but it's easier to corner in US cars anyway since you aren't staring at the dash with lustful intent.
Seriously, How to you compare a golf to a lincoln town car? My friends scooter crushes my highlander on miles-per-gallon. Surely my highlander is an awful vehicle if you ignore physics, common sense etc.
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Try comparing cars with similar specifications.
